Arduino Wireless SD Shield Tutorial

Introduction: Arduino Wireless SD Shield Tutorial

As the name implies, the Arduino Wireless SD shield serves two functions. Foremost, this shield allows you to easily interface with Xbee transceiver modules to create mesh networks, and other wireless devices. Secondly, the micro SD socket allows you to store and access a large amount of data. Whether using these functions by on their own or together, this chip greatly enhances the capabilities of a standard Arduino. The best part about this shield is how easy it is to use. In no time flat, you can have its various components up and running.

Step 1: Plug in the Xbee

Plug in your Xbee modules in order to use the shield as a wireless transceiver.

Make sure the module's pointy end is lined up with the edge of the board.

If you are using the shield for wireless data transfer, you will need two or more of them.

Step 2: Plug It In

Plug your shields into your Arduinos.

Step 3: Features

It also boasts a micro SD socket. This can easily be interfaced with the Arduino SD library. Unfortunately, this library does not come bundled with the Arduino development environment, so you will have to set it up yourself.

The shield also boasts a perfboard grid for prototyping your own circuit, and a micro switch for toggling between the USB port and micro SD port.

Step 4: Program the Receiver

Plug one of the Arduinos into the computer. Make certain the micro switch is toggled to the "USB" option.

Upload the following code:

Step 5: Setup the Receiver

Unplug the Arduino from the computer. Toggle the micro switch from "USB" to "MICRO".

Plug the red wire from a 9V battery connector into the Vin pin. Plug the black wire into the GND pin.

Connect the positive leg of an LED to pin D2 and the other leg in series with a 220 ohm resistor to ground.

Plug in your battery.

It is now a standalone receiver.

Step 6: Program the Transmitter

Plug in the Arduino for the transmitter. Make certain the micro switch is toggled to the "USB" option.

Before you upload any code to the Arduino, open the serial monitor. Type in "h" and hit the "send" button. The LED on your receiver should light up. You have made a wireless connection!

Fantastic.

Now upload the following code:

Step 7: Setup the Transmitter

Unplug the Arduino from the computer. Toggle the micro switch from "USB" to "MICRO".

Plug the red wire from a 9V battery connector into the Vin pin. Plug the black wire into the GND pin.

Connect a 10K resistor between pin D2 and ground. Also connect a push button switch between pin D2 and 5v.

Plug in your battery.

It is now a standalone transmitter.

Step 8: Prepare the SD Card

Before you can use the micro SD card, it needs to be formatted to either FAT16 or FAT32.

On a Mac:

Connect your SD card

Open Disk Utlity

Select the Disk

Click "Erase" at the top of the window

Select "Volume Format: MS-DOS(FAT)" and hit "erase"

It is now FAT32 formatted

On a PC:

Open "My Computer"

Right-click on the disk and select "Format"

Select "FAT" and click "start"

It is now formatted to FAT16

Once the disk is formatted, the next thing you have to do is make sure that you have the SD Card Library. For instructions on how to setup the library, check out the bottom of Adafruit's extremely thorough micro SD card tutorial.

Plug the SD card into the socket on the shield.

To test the SD card, plug the Arduino into the computer and upload the following code:

In my sketch I need to open a file from the SD in order to get two values (void loop) from a list, then I get two values from my sensor, and in the last step I want to save these two values into another or even same file into the SD. The problem is that if I close the SD file (a .txt) to switch the SD sate from READ to WRITE every time I return to the SD to read from the list I will be at the first data from the list, and I would like to continue reading the list.....

so my question is: how could I avoid to always return to sassa, into the first list position each time I acces the SD file, just because I have closed the SD file in order to be allowed to switch to WRITE the SD ?

Awesome! I was considering using a xbee zig bee pro for a model airplane/drone i am working on. Supposedly this particular xbee has a range of 2 miles outdoors line of sight. I want to use this shield to run the xbee during flight and to record flight data. However, i cannot figure out how many pins the shield uses? This will determine if I need an uno or a mega

Also! Looks like the xbee I have chosen draws about 205mA in transmit and 50mA in receive mode. Do you think this board adds much to that? I don't really know how much current the SD card dongle consumes...

Also, I assume (whoops) that I can program the xbee to switch between transmitter and reciever mode? This is why I want a transceiver instead of a normal model airplane radio. I need to send and receive data from the plane

Roughly 100ft indoors 300ft outdoors. There are 3 types of series 1 xbees so the one with the antenna probably has the best range. Sparkfun has a great information page http://www.sparkfun.com/tutorials/257